Male suspect pleads guilty in wild chase that ended on New Springville dead-end

Police officers rope off Park Drive North in New Springville on Jan. 7 in an image taken from Channel 7.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — An Elm Park man admitted tossing a hypodermic syringe out a car window and carrying PCP, but his niece denied charges of leading New Jersey troopers in a high-speed chase across the Goethals Bridge to a dead-end New Springville street and nearly mowing three of the officers down.

Vincent Felci, 45, pleaded guilty to a felony count of tampering with evidence and a misdemeanor count of drug possession stemming from the wild car chase that began on the New Jersey Turnpike and ended 14 miles later in a hailstorm of police gunfire on Park Drive North Jan. 7 at about 1:30 a.m.

Under the deal, Felci, of Morningstar Road, would be admitted to a long-term drug rehabilitation program when he returns to state Supreme Court, St. George, Feb. 19 for sentencing in front of Justice Leonard P. Rienzi.

Shortly before Felci copped his plea today, Ann Marie Boudreau, 23, of Morningstar Road, pleaded not guilty during her arraignment to charges listed in a 16-count indictment that range from reckless endangerment, assault, and reckless driving, to unlawfully fleeing a police officer, operating a motor vehicle without a license, tampering with evidence, obstructing government administration, resisting arrest, and criminal possession of heroin.

New Jersey State Police said the incident began when troopers tried to stop Ms. Boudreau’s Chevy Malibu after she was spotted driving erratically on the New Jersey Turnpike. Ms. Boudreau allegedly sped off, and six troopers in three separate vehicles pursued the sedan across the Goethals Bridge to the Richmond Avenue exit of the Staten Island Expressway.

Acting on Ms. Boudreau’s alleged instruction, Felci tossed a hypodermic needle out of the Malibu as they crossed the Goethals Bridge.

Ignoring stop signs, traffic lights and passing other motorists, Ms. Boudreau raced through the streets of New Springville in a stirring series of turns, sudden stops and u-turns before the officers trapped the Malibu on dead-end Park Drive North, according to court papers.